Share this:

Republican Bob Dieterich will hold a press conference at the Glen Sanders Mansion Wednesday afternoon to announce the Republican will run against U.S. Rep. Democrat Paul Tonko in November.

Dieterich, of Glenville, is senior vice president at First National Bank of Scotia and was named CFO of the Year in the under $20 million business category by the Business Review last year.

A graduate of SUNY Plattsburgh, he is also an officer in the 109th Airlift Wing in Glenville.

He follows in the footsteps of other Republican businessmen who have attempted to unseat Tonko: first, Buhrmaster Energy CEO Jim Buhrmaster (who is now head of the Schenectady County Republican party) who ran against Tonko in the former Assemblyman’s first contest in 2008. Then Ted Danz, owner of Danz Family Heating in Albany, who lost to Tonko in 2010.

As we found out Tuesday, the district lines will be altered, but will still include all of Schenectady County.

And that alteration may make the district a bid more palatable for a GOP candidate; it’s currently considered a safe Democratic seat. Lines proposed by U.S. Magistrate Roanne Mann would add GOP-rich areas of southern Saratoga County to the district. But Buhrmaster, now the Schenectady County Republican chairman, said it will still be uphill.

“For anybody on the Republican side running against Paul Tonko, still the biggest challenge is Albany. Cut it up any way you want, but Albany — particularly the city — is a formidable challenge,” he said.

But he offered a hopeful perspective: Roger Hull’s near-victory over Gary McCarthy as mayor of Schenectady and Assemblyman George Amedore’s wins in what was once a Democratic district.

“People are voting more independently, and they’re not registering Republican or Democratic,” he said.

About Capitol Confidential

Capitol Confidential gathers the best coverage of New York politics and puts it all together. Each section - Capitol, The State Worker, New York on the Potomac, and Voices - represents a unique facet of the political scene. The Capitol section features coverage from the Times Union Capitol bureau. The State Worker is dedicated to state worker issues. New York on the Potomac offers news of interest to New Yorkers from Washington. And Voices features the best of everything else, pointing you to columnists and bloggers from across the Web.